The PolyInnovator Newsletters

Email is not something I went into very quickly as a creator. I found myself writing blog posts on Wordpress or Medium, and I would mess with Mailpoet or other plugins on WP. However it was more of a marketing thing to me at the time, rather than an extension of a series or tag.

Now to me I almost feel that each one of my Tags (essentially categories or topics on Ghost CMS), are capable of having their own newsletter in of themselves.

For example I recently turned on the PIOS Update for the 🧠 PIOS Omni-Brain = Knowledge Management Tag. Which isn't a "newsletter" in the traditional sense. However I get so many people coming to my content ecosystem purely for my Knowledge Management content. It would be unwise for me to not cater to those fans in a way.

Additionally, other topics like Swimming or Gaming both are separate pods or sub-brands in of themselves as well. Meaning I had them on their own websites even at one point. Before bringing them into the fold of my main website. (For those curious, they were on Substack and Paragraph respectively.)

What Newsletters do I offer?

In fact speaking of websites, hosting is another issue, and cost. I had put my PolyTools site as a separate Ghost cms instance, so that I could make posts about Tools for Creators. However the actual site kept breaking every 1-2 weeks because of the host provider. Not to mention it was a separate cost.

Thus I wanted to have everything all into one place. My whole ecosystem if you will on a platform I control (hence why I don't just put everything onto Substack for example). I did move hosts to Magic Pages I should mention! Ghost PRO limited me to only 3 newsletters, when ghost cms can have unlimited, and so Magic Pages unlocks that cap for me!

Without further ado here are my many newsletters you can enjoy/learn from!

The Polymath Wiki:

Probably my most crucial given my personal brand niche. It is one of my contributions to the Polymathy world.

I treat it as a tag that I put anything and everything related to polymathy, generalists, multi's, interdisciplinary, and jacks of all trades into. Recently (as in this year) I started doing a sort of series where I have all of these great videos on these topics I saved over the years. I wanted to highlight the creators who make them, and give my own two cents on the topics discussed.

While I have around 100 ideas, at least, for my own posts from scratch. I'm taking the time right now to showcase these really great videos and topics as newsletter posts! I think they're really cool.

Mr. Dustin's Swim Academy:

Probably my first 'real' newsletter if you will.

Given that I have taught swimming for over a decade I felt that I should make content on that expertise. Especially since I saw the other content on the internet, and it wasn't that good. Mind you this is all written, and you can't bring a blog post into a pool. However I will expand this brand into audio as well down the line.

The swimming posts are one of the only newsletters that are sequential, meaning I do think you should start from the beginning. Get a grasp on the basics, and then continue from there.

It has been on hiatus for a bit, due to the Ghost PRO hosting limitation of only 3 newsletters. However in addition to that I am holding off until I finish my How to Swim book too!

The Generalist Gamer - PolyInnovator Gaming:

Either name works, but this is my gaming arm/sub-brand for my content. I have been a gamer since I was literally a toddler. Even as a kid I would play games on my uncle's PC or consoles.

Since I don't generally stick to just ONE genre, and I also don't quite have a side on the "console war". I take a polymathic-generalist approach to my gaming. Playing almost any genre, and on any platform I have around.

These posts in this newsletter are more musings from my gaming days, interesting anecdotes, tutorials, or anything related to gaming. Including game development, which I hope to continue one day with my Phasevos game concept!

The PolyTools Digest/The Content Polymath:

Quick warning, this is technically two newsletters. I'll explain why in a moment. One is here on Ghost, and the other is on Substack. They both are about content creation, creator tools, strategies, etc. However from a newsletter standpoint they have diverged.

I didn't want to port over all of my old posts from The PolyTools Digest over to the new Substack instance for the Content Polymath. Firstly, some of them were a bit old, and others simply needed to be remade. It was also really heavily geared towards TOOLS, hence the name, and just didn't fit with the new vision of the sub-brand that they both are named for.

The PolyTools Digest still will exist here on this site, and the posts I plan to make over the next 30 or so weeks will be around each Category that I had on the Tools Directory website I mentioned earlier.

The new newsletter on Substack is a 1-3 times a week release about how to be a modern content creator. Really focusing on that topic, of creating in this digital renaissance.

Each week too I'll be doing livestreams that get posted to that Substack as well. I've been treating them as creator coaching calls at the moment. Plus extra informative video posts too.

The PIOS Update:

The Personal/Polymath Integration Operating System is a knowledge management framework I created for polymathic people like myself. I felt that the Second Brain concept was too small in scope, and same for the LifeOS ideal.

This newsletter is simply a way for people who are interested in this tag, which besides polymathy, is one of my biggest topics. To be able to follow along with new posts in this category/tag.

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Some perhaps Future Offerings

For example this post is going into my PolyInnovator News tag, which I think would be a good fit for a newsletter. In case I get big enough as a creator, and people want to know what changes I made to the ecosystem. Recently I change hosting providers for my Ghost CMS site, that may be helpful knowledge to other writers who use Ghost!

Here are some other topics I would consider for newsletters.

I sort of used to offer this via this tool: https://mailbrew.com/ , where you could syndicate your content ecosystem streams into one newsletter. Its more like if you have multiple authors you like, then you can get updated on all of them via email. However I used it as an aggregator for all of my many streams of content.

It just didn't seem to do it well enough for my taste, especially considering HOW MUCH content I create. I used to have plans for an AIO newsletter way back on my wordpress days even, or using Twitter's Revue platform to bring in posts into a weekly digest.

If I were to do this I would most likely use some sort of automated syndication aggregator like before. To pull all of the RSS feeds/channels together into one feed, for those who want to see EVERYTHING.

Now Page Monthly:

Essentially this would just be me activating a new newsletter simply for those who care about my life. I.e. family and friends, or super fans. As the Now Page Update is just that, an update to my personal and professional lives in written and video form. This would be just a monthly digest you could sign up to get.

PolyPRO:

Akin to the last one, it would essentially just be me turning it on, as if you are paying for a paid membership then you should be getting notified when a new post goes out. Especially since I have been pretty inconsistent with them in the last year. I do think this one I will turn on at some point, but more so when I have more subscribers and more posts to offer.

Travel/EDC:

This was what my previous attempt at Substack was geared towards. I made a few posts, and I had plans on doing even more. Especially if I could put some affiliate marketing or product reviews in there.

I might bring this endeavor back one day!

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Two Newsletters I WILL be Creating... for my Podcasts at some point

Now the caveat is that I don't want to leave my current podcast host, and I think that if I were to make new posts from scratch rather than importing. Then that would take 3 times as long, or longer.

However with the Podcast and Video features that Substack provides I have been highly considering making newsletters finally for my podcasts. I should note that I have been planning on doing this for the PolyCast interviews since I basically started doing them, as I wanted to make polymath analysis-like posts. However I haven't been sure how to do that successfully.

I think for now I would just create a blog post plus transcription for each interview, and let the posts have another home in written form on a place like Substack. That way more eyes can see them.

Note: Going forward, pretty much every episode on either show will be interview only. Unless there is a special super-cut solo episode or something like I did on the PolyTools one early on.

PolyTools Creator Spotlight - Creators

Each interview is that of a different creator. I try to reach a variety of kinds as well, from youtubers to writers, to streamers and more. Of course other podcasters too!

Each interview really brings something to the table.

The Polymath PolyCast - Multidisciplinary Mindsets

Starting out as the audio channel for PolyInnovator. Meaning any topic was fair game, and I had solo episodes side by side with the polymathic interviews.

However I think going forward it would be wiser to somewhat niche down into just doing multidisciplinary people interviews. That way people know what to expect.

This show is currently on hiatus, just as time of this writing, as I needed a break from doing both shows constantly. However I intend to bring it back soon.

Please note that these may or may not actually be on Substack, but for now I am laying the groundwork in case they are. Given that Substack has podcast hosting capabilities. ATM I am happy with my podcast host.

The reason I feel so strongly towards moving them to substack is that if the features worked consistently, then the platform would improve my shows. It would take the cost of hosting my podcasts from $200 a year down to $0. The platform supports video posts, so I could put my interview videos there, and it automatically posts to youtube (this is one of the automations that hasn't been working right though). Not to mention it automatically cuts out the audio for me, and makes that into a podcast episode.

Which would save me a step in the creation process of rendering a separate file.

Plus then everything will have a text post accompanying it, so that SEO can help bring people to find the shows.

Why have so many?

Look the best way I can explain it is that I am an expert in many topics. For something like swimming I would say I am one of the topic swim coaches in knowledge and teaching ability. However my lack of notoriety or contributions (i.e. book) is glaring (at least to me).

For things like Exercise and Gaming I would consider myself an expert in too, but just not at the same level as Swimming for example.

However I STILL want to talk about those things! The newsletters are a way for me to reach other people who care about the things I care about, and make a community.

They lead into becoming a member on my site as well, so each arm brings in a new different person. Plus if I can have as many as I need on Ghost cms then why not?

If you are interested in any of the newsletters, then I greatly encourage you to sign up for Free to start getting them in your inbox!

Subscribe to One or All of the Newsletters!

I recently compared all of the newsletter platforms in a post on my new newsletter for creators. Check it out!

The PolyInnovator Newsletters